Refrigerator-car.



' No. 813,970. PATBNTED FEB.2'7, 1906.

B. P. HINDS & G. E. PAYNE.

REFRIGERATOR GAR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 10. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 f K n 4x 2x h Fig/L WlTNESSES INVENTORS No. 813,970. 1 PATENTED FEB. 27, 1906. E. P. HINDS 6: G. E. PAYNE.

REFRIGERATOR GAR.

APPLICATION nun JULY 10. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WiTNESSES INVENTORS TTORNEY.

maintain the contents of the UNITED sTATEs ERVIN P. HINDS, OF

PATENT OFFICE.

. REFRIGERATOR-CAR}.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 27, 1906.

Application filed July 10, 1905. Serial No. 268,973.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ERVIN P. HINDs, residing in the borough of Manhattan, in the city and county of New York, and GEORGE E. PAYNE, residing at Long Queens county, New York State, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refri erator- Cars, of which the following is a speci cation.

This invention relates to improvements in the ice-compartments of refrigerator-cars; and our object is to provide means for raising the ice automatically in said compartments as it becomes melted in order that the ice may be maintained at the top of the compartments, thereby insuring a constant'and even circulation of the air-currents throughout the car to the end that the temperature at the top of the car shall be prevented from rising above the temperature requisite to car in proper condition so long as ice remains in the compartments.

We attain our object by means of the device substantially as herein described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which' Figure 1 represents a partial side elevation of an Armour Company type of refrigeratorcar for carrying beef, &c., with the end of the car shown in vertical longitudinal section through one of the ice-compartments Fig. 2, a vertical transverse section through the icecompartments at one end of the car; Figs. 3 and 4, plan and sectional views of one of the individual ice-compartments, drawn to a 1 larger scale; and-Fig. 5 a detail showing the drain-pipes which are placed between compartments to draw off the water therefrom as the ice melts.

Like numerals designate like parts in the several views.

1 represents the space in the body of the car within which the perishable freight to be transported under refrigeration is placed upon hooks, racks, shelves, or other suitable supports. At each end of the car as now constructed in the ice-compartments 2 there are a series of vertical zinc receiving-tanks 4 of rectangular form supported upon transverse I-beams 5, into which the ice in broken form and usually mixed with salt is placed through the openings 8 at the top, which are Island City, in

--per portion of the car.

closed by the hatch-doors 9, hinged to the roof of the car. The openings 8 on each side of the car communicate with two of the tanks 4 and after the tanks are charged are made air-tight by insulating-blocks 10. Below the tanks on the car-floor is a zinc-lined trough 6, from which drain-pipes 7 (the tops of which within the car are covered by suitable airtraps) conduct the water which drips from the tanks away from the car. Separating the ice-compartments from the storing-space 1 baffle-boards or partitions 3 extend transversely across the car, by which spaces are provided between the tanks and the body of the car at top and bottom for the purpose of causing a circulation of the air, as indicated by the arrows.

As the cars are at present constructed the ice is merely dropped into the tanks and permitted; to settle melts away. As the ice retreats from the top of the tanks it permits the temperature therein to rise, resulting in a slower circulation of the air and a consequent reduction in the cooling effect of the ice-chambers in the up- If the ice is allowed to drop below the bottom of the baflle-boards 3, the circulation at the top of the car will be brought practically to a standstill, and the contents of the car, in the upper. portions thereof, will become spoiled. In order to keep the temperature in the car constant,

.therefore, it requires frequent icing of the cars to maintain the ice in the tanks at or near the top, where it is most needed. Much loss has been occasioned to the lading in the upper portions of the cars by reason of neglect or inability to maintain the ice at the proper elevation in the tanks. To overcome this defect, we provide in each tank a collapsible bag 11 of bellows-like formation, which will be of suitable material to retain air under pressure and which shall also be waterproof. Supported upon the air-bags are false bottoms or trays 12 to receive the ice, the upper edges of the trays being flared, so as to leave a slight clearance-space between them and the walls of the tanks. At the sides of the trays friction-rollers 23 are provided to cause the trays to rise and fall easily in the tanks. In the car to which we have shown our invention applied the icetanks 4 are square, with a clearance inside of to the bottom thereof as it about nineteen inches each way. The icetrays and air-bags are therefore made of corresponding shape. Should the ice tanks or chambers be of other forms and dimensions, as in fruit-cars, where the ice-chambers extend completely across the compartments 2, the ice-trays and air-bags will be made to conform therewith. It will also be understood that the tanks may be made circular in cross-section instead of square, as herein shown.

Each air-bag is connected by pipes 13 and cross-pipes 14 with mains 1.5, running to an air-supply tank 16, secured to the under side of the car in proximity to the auxiliary tank 17 of the air-brake system. From this auxiliary tank a pipe 18 conducts the air to the supply-tank 16, said pipe being provided at 19 with a suitable reducing-valve whereby the pressure may be reduced to a suitable degree in the supplytank, since a comparatively low pressuresay from three to four pounds to the square inchin the air-bags under the dimensions given will be suflicient to counterbalance the weight of the ice supported on the trays 12. A pressure some what in excess of that required to lift the weight of the ice will be advisable in order to maintain the ice in the top of the tanks.

The ice-bags will be so constructed that the trays will have a lift of three to four feet or sufficient to bring the trays to within about two feet of the top of the tanks at their extreme lift. As the ice melts the constant air-pressure upon the bottom of the trays 1 will act to force the ice to the top of the tanks against the blocks 10, which are held in place by any suitable means-as, for example, an overhang of the car-roof at 32 on the outside and ratchet-locks 31 on the inside. The Water as the ice melts falls from the trays into the space around the air -bags, and from these spaces is drained into the trough 6, preferably by way of stand-pipes 25 and 27, rising between each pair of tanks and con nected at 24 and 28 with opposite tanks, said stand-pipes rising a suitable distance above the bottom of the tanks and being connected by a cross-pipe 26, from which a drain-pipe 29 descends into proximity with the trough 6. By this arrangement the warmer water at the bottom of the tanks will be drawn off from time to time by the siphon action of the drain-pipes, thereby producing a circulation of the cold water as it comes from the melted ice down to the bottom of the tanks and maintaining the tanks at a'practically uniform temperature throughout. Wash-out cocks 30 at the bottom of the tanks permit the tanks, and especially the space around the air-bags, to be cleaned out from time to time by washing down with hose. Other means than that above described may be provided for draining the tanks and producing the circulation of the drain-water therein.

From an inspection of Fig. 2 it will 'be noted that when the trays are in their elevated positions the ice will be carried above the bottom of the baffle-boards 3 even after the air-bags are filled to their limit and cease to press the ice against the top of the tanks, thereby maintaining the ice at all times above this point and insuring a constant and steady circulation of the air from the upper portions of the car to the tanks over the top of the baffle-board.

To fill the tanks with ice, valves 21 at each end of the mains 15 will be closed and aircocks 20, positioned in the cross-pipe 14 or at any other suitable point, will be opened, thereby permitting the air to be forced out of the air-bags as the ice is deposited upon the icetrays 12. One three-way valve at 21 would also serve this purpose. will therefore descend until the tanks are charged to their fullest capacity, after which air-cocks 20 will be closed and the main valves 21 opened, and the car will be ready for loading and transit. Salt or other sediment caught in the ice-pans may be cleaned out from time to time from the top of the tankswhen the trays are in their elevated position or washed out through the wash-out valve 30. r

The air may be conducted from the pipe 18 directly into the mains 15 without the use of the intermediate supply-tank 16, and we do not limit ourselves to the train-pipe system for the source of the air-supply.

Having thus described our automatic elevating device, and without confining ourselves to the details of construction herein shown and described by Way of illustration,

what we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a refrigerator-car, the combination, with an ice-tank, of a movable false bottom therein, and means for applying air-pressure beneath said bottom to'cause it to rise with the superposed ice as the latter melts.

2. In a refrigerator-car, the combination, with an ice-tank, of a movable false bottom therein, a collapsible air bag beneath said bottom, and means for supplying air under pressure to said bag to elevate the false bottom and the superposed ice as the latter melts.

3. In a refrigerator-car, the combination, with an ice-tank, of a movable false bottom therein, means for elevating said false bottom and the superposed ice-by air-pressure as the ice melts, an air connection between said means and the train-pipe system, and 'a reducing-valve in said connection to transmit the air from the train-pipe system at the required pressure.

4. In a refrigerator-car, the combination, with an ice-tank, of a movable false bottom therein, a collapsible air-bag beneath said bottom, pipe connections leading from said Said trays bag to the train-pipe system, and a reducingvalve in said pipe connection to transmit the air to the air-bag at the required pressure.

5. In a refrigeratopcar, the combination, with an ice-tank, of a movable false bottom therein, a collapsible air-bag beneath said bottom, pipe connections leading therefrom to an air-supply tank, and means for maintaining air in said tank at the required pressure.

I 6. In arefrigerator-car, the combination, with an ice-tank, of a movable false bottom therein, means for elevating said false bottom and the superposed ice by air-pressure as the ice melts, a water-space being provided below the false bottom and around the elevating means into which the water from the melting ice drains, and means secured to the lower end of the tank for conducting away the water from said space.

In testimony whereof we have affixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ERVIN P. HINDS'. GEO. E. PAYNE.

Witnesses:

HARRIET E. YENAWINEI PHILIP MARHAG. 

